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Research

To tackle the triple burden of malnutrition, all relevant stakeholders must be integrated right from the beginning of the project. Therefore a transdisciplinary research design was developed to bring all relevant actors from research, policy and the civil society together to address this complex challenge.

Analytical framework of the FoCo-Active project

Figure 1: Associated research fields of FoCo-Active including target products along the FVC and their relevance for the SDGs.

Figure 1: Associated research fields of FoCo-Active including target products along the FVC and their relevance for the SDGs.

To address projects’ objectives, FoCo-Active will include the following steps linked to the analytical framework (Fig. 1)

  • 1. Baseline analysis

    The project will conduct a comprehensive baseline assessment to analyse the state of the art at the beginning of the project. This includes the

    1. urban and rural food environments target groups are embedded in,
    2. diets, consumer behaviour and the nutritional status of 1500 individuals,
    3. health competences of target population,
    4. urban and rural physical activity environment and
    5. physical activity levels/sedentary behaviour of target population.

  • 2. Intervention phase

    Identified health related gaps fostering the triple burden of malnutrition will be addressed by designing a tailored intervention program including

    1. demonstration plots/trainings for simple low-cost innovations to strengthen production and post-harvest treatments of nutrient-dense plant foods for an improved food environment,
    2. market options for healthy and nutrient-dense (plant-) foods and
    3. a health literacy program (see below) including specific communication tools.

  • 3. Impact assessment

    An endpoint assessment equal to baseline will be conducted to assess and evaluate impacts of the set of implemented interventions.

  • 4. Dissemination

    Tailored guidelines (healthy food and physical activity environments and health literacy) will be developed and communicated via appropriate communication channels aligned to national policies.

Health literacy program

The concept of health literacy focuses on skills and abilities of people in order to maintain their own health and well-being. Important principles of this concept are to transfer competences to people to understand important information, to judge, and to apply them to the personal situation and finally to obtain the overall ability to translate health-related information into action steps. In comparison to the definition of health competence, the health literacy concept is extended and includes the sovereign and independent handling of information to preserve and promote individual health.

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